Brain train(ing)

Are we robots? Are we some weird collective consciousness that is constantly trying to identify what it means to be human? I really don’t think so, though it is entirely possible that humans being robotic in nature might not really be that totally far off from reality. As quoted by Nicholas Carr, “The brain has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.” Does this not sound robotic? Does it matter? I argue that it does not, it is just one of the wonderful parts of being human.

We can change our minds, and not only in regards to opinions but in regards to how we think about stuff. To me that is incredibly cool, it is a perfect example of human evolution through time. Where the problems really start are where they always started, which is that people are scared of change. As we have read people feared writing when it first began, and I’d reach to say people probably feared the wheel too. That is what we are currently going through as a race in regards to all this rapidly evolving and emerging technology.

An older Wall Street Journal article discuss several points that have been made for and against technology and how it affects writing and thinking, and the part that I love most about it is a short point towards the end, “Whatever the mix of good and bad, technology only advances and cannot be put back in the bottle.” I love this statement so much as it really embodies my two biggest thoughts regarding technological evolution and how it affects us. The first is that there is ultimately nothing we can do about the change as it is happening, so we might as well make the most out of it and learn and adapt and enjoy. The second is it that again, the change is here, and we need to try and adapt to it so that we can make it easier for generations to come to adapt.

Adapting to change is a fact of life, and it is something I believe we as a society could do better at bring to our young who really need this skill in order to grow up in a time where new discoveries are being made technologically nearly every day.

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4 thoughts on “Brain train(ing)”

Human evolution is the result of people sharing ideas to further advance society. Technology is a medium of this evolution and truly cannot be “put back into the bottle”. Technology is one thing that we a society must always adapt to, as mentioned above

Jack, I like how you’re transcending the good/bad debate here by reminding us that this technology is here and probably here to stay–so we better start figuring out what to do about it. I think that’s particularly true of this debate in relationship to education. We can argue about whether texting hurts or helps literacy, but the reality is that students are doing it. So, we might as well figure out how to help them think about it more critically.

I think this is a cool idea. Humans do almost has robotic-like processes to them. It makes me wonder how is it will be to program a robot to act more human. In 2014, Japanese company released a robot that reads and responds to emotions. This just seems crazy to me with these robots now being more similar to humans.

I think you have a great attitude towards technology. People are always uncomfortable with change, but taking the step towards accepting and learning can be beneficial to themselves and others around them. Just like you pointed out, people feared the beginning of writing, but I think everyone would agree this was a good change. As technology changes, we will probably have these same discussions, but overall, I think we’re benefiting as a society.